alphabet

P is for Paper Bag Pig Puppets

Many of our favourite things start with letter P: puppies, puppets, play, painting, pillow fights, pink, and of course Pig, the adorable anthropomorphic star of Super Why on Kids' CBC. In his everyday form, Pig wears overalls and likes to pretend that he is a construction worker like his dad. When he transforms into a Super Reader, he dons a cape and goggles and becomes "Alpha Pig", with a magic toolbox filled with everything needed to help the team build words.

 

Pig is a popular character in our house as we work on identifying the letters of the alphabet, a key early literacy skill, and learn how they can be combined to create the words that make up our language. A "P is for Pink Painted Paper Bag Pig Puppet" craft is a playful way to capitalize on your child's affection for Alpha Pig while learning about the power and potential of letter "P".

 

 

Here is what you need to make your own:

  • pink paint
  • an egg carton
  • a brown paper lunch bag
  • blue, orange, yellow, and pink construction paper
  • googlie eyes
  • a black marker
  • scissors
  • glue
  • a paintbrush

 

Paint the front of your paper bag (the side with the bottom flap on it) pink.  Allow to dry, and then turn over and paint back, if desired.

 

 

While you are waiting for the paper bag to dry, cut out one cup from an egg carton, and paint it pink.  We used a slightly darker shade of pink, but you could use the same colour:

 

 

Cut two "p" shapes out of pink construction paper, leaving the centers intact. These will be Pig's arms (or paws).  Cut two pink triangles out of pink paper for Pig's ears:

 

 

Glue one letter "P" onto each side of your paper bag.  Add nostrils to egg carton with a black marker, and glue onto the flap of the paper bag to form Pig's snout. Glue googlie eyes above the snout, and ears to the top:

 

 

At this point, you can stop and play with your pink paper pig puppet.  To turn your pig into Alpha Pig, cut a t-shirt shape out of blue construction paper and glue onto the front of your pig.  Cut a rectangle out of orange paper to form Pig's belt, and glue onto Pig's shirt twards the bottom.  Cut a large triangle out of yellow paper, and a slightly smaller triangle out of orange construction paper.  Glue orange triange to yellow triangle, and glue both to the centre of the belt.

 

Cut a construction hat shape out of orange construction paper (an upside down bowl shape with a thick "c" shape for the brim). Cut out a small orange rectange, and a slightly smaller yellow rectangle.  Glue to the centre of the hat.  Glue hat between Pig's ears.

 

Once you are finished, use your Pig puppet to unlock the power of the alphabet.  Have Pig ask your child to think of words that start with the "puh" sound. See how many words you can come up with, and then try a new sound.  After a few rounds, let your child play Pig and ask you the questions.  Pig can also play "find an object in the room that starts with a letter sound", or pick a certain letter out of a pile of alphabet magnets or foam cut outs.  The possibilities are endless!

Posted by momstown Teach on 07/27/2012 - 16:39
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C is for Cat in the Hat

Alphabet Play is a favourite momstown program that focuses on early literacy. Each week, we focus on a particular letter of the alphabet. We read a story related to that letter, and often incorporate games and activities that relate to it (e.g. hopping and hulu hooping while we learn about letter "H"). A key component of the program is a craft that uses the letter to create an image of a common word that begins with the letter. Letter "R" for example, could be striped like a rainbow. The program is designed to help kids identify the letters of the alphabet and learn to associate them with the sounds that they stand for.

 

The most effective letter crafts seem to be those that link the sound of the letter to a very familiar and easily recognizable thing that beings with it.   Whether it is from the classic story by Dr. Suess or from the wonderful science focused "The Cat in the Hat Knows a lot About That"  televison show he stars in on Kids' CBC, the Cat in the Hat is a figure that is immediately identified by almost all kids and their parents. He is a much loved personality in our house, and so a "C" is for Cat in the Hat acvitity was an obvious fit.

 

 

To make your own, you will need:

  • blue, red, black and white paper
  • a black marker
  • scissors
  • glue

 

Start by cutting out a white oval for the Cat in the Hat's face, a black lower case "c", a red bowtie, three strips of red paper and two strips of white paper for the Cat's hat, a long strip of white paper for the hat's brim, and a white triangular ear.

 

 

Draw a face onto the white oval, and glue it onto the bottom of your background paper:

 

 

Glue letter "c" around the Cat's face, and glue his bowtie below it:

 

 

Starting with a red strip, begin to glue together the hat on top of the Cat's head:

 

 

Finish your C is for Cat in the Hat craft by gluing on the Cat's ear, and the white strip for the hatband.  Then, be sure to read the Cat in the Hat and watch the show again!

Posted by momstown Teach on 07/26/2012 - 22:19
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P is for Paw Prints, Paint, and Preparing for a Party

momstown families all across Canada have been enjoying reading "Clifford at the Circus" this month, and next month Clifford himself will be making guest appearances at several of our 5th Birthday celebrations.

When I think of Clifford, the first thing that always comes to my mind is his big red paw print. I still remember looking for it on the back of the books as a child. As part of our Alphabet Play program, we worked on a "P is for Paw Print" activity today. Of course, we used red paint to make our prints look like Clifford's. We are now prepared to recognize those red paw prints when they show up at our parties!

We started with plates of red paint, and white paper with an uppercase letter P printed on each sheet. We dipped our thumbs into the paint to make the lower portion of the paw print, and then used our pinky fingers to make three smaller dots above them:

 

 

When the paint was dry, we cut out our letter P's to practice our scissor skills.  Finally, we pasted the P's onto contrasting colours of paper:

 

 

We would be so pleased if you participated in our birthday party celebrations in August. There will be plenty of prizes!

Posted by momstown Teach on 07/18/2012 - 00:13
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"O" is for Olympics

Sometimes the best ideas for are the simplest.  A few days ago, my nephew C., who is two, noticed an advertisement featuring the Olympic Rings.  He is beginning to recognize letters of the alphabet, and he commented that there were letter "O's" in the picture. 

 

As I began to explain that the picture was of the Olympic Rings, and not of the letter "O", I realized that he was right as well.  The circles in the Olympics Rings do look like letter "O's".  Moreover, many words associated with the Olympic Games begin with the letter "O", including "Olympics", "Opening Ceremonies", "Outdoor" events, "Outstanding" performances, "Ore" used to the make the medals, "Overseas", where many Olympic Games take place, and the "Oceans" that divide the five continents represented by the Rings.

 

"Opportunity" also begins with the letter "O", and I was not about to pass this one up.  We dug out our craft supplies, and created our own "O is for Olympics" alphabet craft. 

 

First, we traced circles onto blue, yellow, black, green, and red construction paper.  While we were working, we talked about other objects that were circles, and worked on identifying each of the colours.  C. is a little young to cut out the circles himself, but it would be an excellent scissor skills activity for older kids.  Once I had cut all of the "O"s out, C. practised counting them to make sure there were five.

 

 

Next, it was time to arrange the "O's" on our paper.  This turned out to be a great lesson on patterns.  After a few experiments, we got it right. I cut a slit in each "O", and C. and I worked together to link the rings and glue them down.  The linking activity was alot like threading beads: great fine motor practice for little fingers:

 

 

Once we were finished, we picked our five favourite "O" words relateted to the Olympics - one for each ring - and wrote them out underneath the rings:

 

 

Once again, the Olympics provided a wonderful teachable moment. We worked on colours, shapes, letters, counting, and fine motor skills, all while having fun.  I am looking forward to many more Olympic opportunities to learn over the next few weeks.

Posted by momstown Teach on 07/15/2012 - 23:53
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Super Alphabet Rocks

alphabet rocks

 

At momstown we’re always looks for ways to tuck a little literacy and learning into the day. Even the most basic of experiences, like looking for rocks at the beach, can be turned into ways to read.

 

One of our favourite TV shows is Super Why on Kids' CBC- it’s both entertaining and has great reading lessons. The super characters read and spell out words during the show and it’s not unusual for my kids to be yelling the words and letters at the screen.

 

Super why rocks 2

 

This summer, in the attempt to avoid the “summer slide” after kindergarten to keep up the precious reading skills my son acquired, I knew I had to get creative. He loves books but loves to be read to, no so much to read himself.  I have to trick him into reading and Super Why always does the trick.

 

I decided to take a lesson from Super Why and work on the Spelling side of reading. And with a medium that he’s not used to using for reading: Rocks!


I made Andrew his own Super Alphabet Rocks or “Andrew’s Alphabet” from a bunch of rocks we collected from the beach during our summer vacation. Perfectly sized, each rock is a letter and is used to create words or sentences.

 

This is a super parent resource project that requires only 2 things – rocks and a permanent marker. I created this for my son as I thought the size of the rocks were too small for his new printing, but if you had a child comfortable with printing, they could make their own set.

 

Each rock has a capital letter on one side and its lower case equivalent on the back. We created a full alphabet with a few extra vowels and other common letters to ease any potential frustration of not being able to find another letter.

 

So far, they’ve been a hit. Each morning, we pull out the Rock Alphabet to spell his name and a he picks a new word of the day to spell out. Ironically, after his word of the day, his interest is peaked and more words are attempted.

 

momstown rocks

 

Perfect!  Super Why to the rescue with this inspiration for our new Reading resource!!

Posted by momstown mama on 07/11/2012 - 12:59
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R is for Rainbow - a colourful alphabet craft

We love the element of surprise in this creative twist on a rainbow from momstown Newmarket-Aurora. Their Alphabet Play program made Rainbow letter R's!

 

R is for Rainbow

 

What you need:

  • Construction paper in rainbow colours - cut into strips
  • White construction paper
  • Glue
  • Scissors

 

Give each child a piece of white construction paper and strips of paper in various rainbow colours (one of each if you have it, or as many colours as you have).

 

Show them how to glue the coloured strips across the paper in a straight line. If you have older children they can cut out the strips themselves - it's great scissor work.

 

Once the rainbow pattern is complete, cut out a letter R from the rainbow - and glue onto another piece of construction paper. You've made your own R is for Rainbow!

 

momstown has lots of rainbow crafts to share:

Paper plate rainbows

Rainbow streamer hanging

Tissue paper rainbow craft

Posted by Teacher Mom on 05/10/2012 - 14:14
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